Colombia’s former executive director of the U.S.-funded counter-narcotics initiative “Plan Colombia” was called for questioning Monday to respond to allegations she had ties with the AUC, responsible for most drug trafficking from Colombia before its 2006 demobilization.
Sandra Suarez, appointed by former President Alvaro Uribe in 2002 to work with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking, faces accusations she had ties to “Jorge 40,” one of the paramilitary AUC’s main leaders.
According to the former ICT director of the now-defunct intelligence agency DAS, Suarez plotted with Jorge 40 and three former governors to expand the paramilitary’s political power in the north of the country in 2006 when Suarez was minister of environment, housing and territorial development.
All three governors have been sentenced for their ties to the paramilitary chief.
The Prosecutor General’s Office announced that the investigation against the former Plan Colombia director and Minister is preliminary and her being called for questioning is voluntary. She is scheduled to make a statement on Wednesday.
Suarez has always denied having known the former paramilitary leader or any member of a paramilitary group and has accused the former DAS official of slander.
Jorge 40 was extradited to the United States in 2008 and suspended all collaboration with Colombian justice in 2010.